Federal Debt Wasn't Decreasing Before Pandemic
The Claim
The United States national debt was decreasing before the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Emerging story
In October 2020, President Donald Trump said that the national debt was “starting to get” down before the pandemic.
Many users took to social media to contest the claim.
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar’s investigation found that on October 14, 2020, Trump participated in a virtual discussion with various leaders from the New York Economic Club. During this discussion, Trump said regarding the national debt: “Prior to the plague, we were starting to get that number down. We were getting that number, the interest rates were so low and we were seeing things on such a positive scale.”
Records initiate that at the end of 2018, the U.S. Total Debt was $21,974,095,705,790.55. This total incorporates both Public Debt and Intragovernmental Holdings. By the end of 2019, this figure changed to $23,201,380,134,806.73. At the beginning of COVID-19 pandemic in February 2020, these numbers changed to $23,409,959,150,243.63 and are currently at $27,140,764,457,927.75 as of October 20, 2020.
As these metrics indicate, this number saw a significant increase between 2018 and 2019 and even more so during the pandemic.
While it was exacerbated by the pandemic, the national debt was increasing, not decreasing, prior to COVID-19.
